There are some celebrity couples in India who publicise their pregnancies to such a level that people start keeping tabs on their appointments with gynecologists and hospital visits. Then there are some who manage to keep their impending arrivals a secret for months.
Bollywood's most adored couple -- actress Anushka Sharma and her cricketer-husband Virat Kohli -- are a perfect mix of both.
After announcing Anushka's pregnancy on social media in August last year, the couple now want the paparazzis in Mumbai to not click photos of their newborn daughter. The Indian skipper announced that they were blessed with a baby girl, their first child, on January 11, adding that "both the mother and the baby are healthy".
However, in a note to the paparazzi fraternity in the Bollywood city on Wednesday, the couple said: "As parents, we have a simple request to make to you. We want to protect the privacy of our child and we need your help and support."
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The Indian cricket captain and his wife have, however, assured the paparazzis that they will share the "content" at the right time. "While we will always ensure that you get all the content you need featuring us, we would request you to kindly not take or carry any content that has our child."
After being in a relationship for many years, Virat and Anushka, both 32, tied the knot at a low-key ceremony in Italy's Tuscan region in December 2017. In August last year, the couple took to social media to announce the pregnancy by writing "and then we were three".
A right-handed top-order batsman, Kohli is regarded as one of the best contemporary batsmen in the world. He has been the national cricket team's captain since 2013. Since October 2017, he has been the top-ranked ODI batsman in the world and is currently second in Test rankings with 879 points.
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In 2018, Time magazine named Kohli one of the 100 most influential people in the world. In 2020, he became the only cricketer in the world to feature in Forbes list of the top 100 highest-paid athletes in the world with an estimated earnings of USD 26 million.
Anushka, on the other hand, moved to Mumbai to pursue a full-time career as a model but she soon made her acting debut opposite 'Bollywood Badshah' Shah Rukh Khan in the highly successful romantic flick 'Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi' in 2008. She subsequently featured in Yash Raj Films' romances 'Band Baaja Baaraat' (2010) and 'Jab Tak Hai Jaan' (2012).
Habib Wahid,one of the nation's most popular singers and music composers, recently got married again.
The National Award-winning musical superstar confirmed this news from his verified Facebook page on Tuesday.
"Dear fans, I want to share with you all a very sudden development in my personal life. Recently, I got married and my wife's name is Afsana Chowdhury (Shifa)," Habib wrote in his post.
Addressing the sudden decision, the 41-year-old singer added, "As you all know that the whole world is currently going through very bad times due to the global pandemic which is why this event was kept very private. God bless."
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Habib's newlywed bride Afsana Chowdhury (Shifa) is a Bangladeshi model. This is the third marriage of the singer.
Habib got married for the first time in 2003 to Lubayna, but parted ways after a couple of months.
He then got married to Rehan Chowdhury in 2011 and together they have a son, Alim (born in 2012). The couple went for a divorce in 2017.
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Son of Bangladeshi pop-icon Ferdous Wahid, Habib went into superstardom since 2003 for his works on modern pop music, electronic dance music and most notably his fusion projects of traditional Bengali folk music mixed with contemporary techno and urban beats, which revived the popularity of the folk musical treasures in Bangladesh.
His first two albums as a music composer with folk singers Kaya and Helal in Krishno (2003) and Maya (2004) and later Panjabiwala (2007) with singer Shireen were his folk-revival projects that garnered huge popularity from the audiences.
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He debuted as a singer with two of his most popular tracks 'Raat Nirghum' and 'Din Gelo' in his third directed album Moina Go (2005). He then released his first solo album Shono (2007) as a singer, composer and director.
Habib won the National Film Award as the Best Music Director for the film Projapoti, in 2011.
India has announced Bangladesh as the "Country in Focus" for the 51st International Film Festival of India (IFFI).
The ‘Country in Focus’ is a special segment that recognises the cinematic excellence and contributions of the country, said the Press Information Bureau of India.
This section at the 51st IFFI will showcase four films – ‘Jibondhuli’ by Tanvir Mokammel, ‘Meghmallar’ by Zahidur Rahim Anjan, ‘Under Construction’ by Rubaiyat Hossain and ‘Sincerely Yours, Dhaka’ by Nuhash Humayun, Syed Ahmed Shawki, Rahat Rahman Joy, Md Robiul Alam, Golam Kibria Farooki, Mir Mukarram Hossain, Tanvir Ahsan, Mahmudul Islam, Abdullah Al Noor, Krishnendu Chattopadhyay and Syed Saleh Ahmed Sobhan.
The IFFI, founded in 1952, is one of the most significant film festivals in Asia.
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Held annually, currently in the state of Goa, the festival aims at providing a common platform for cinemas of the world to project the excellence of the film art, contributing to the understanding and appreciation of film cultures of different nations in the context of their social and cultural ethos and promoting friendship and cooperation among people of the world.
The festival is conducted jointly by the Directorate of Film Festivals (under Ministry of Information and Broadcasting) and the state Government of Goa.
The 51st edition of the festival is being organised from January 16-24.
Renowned singer-musician and popular Bangladeshi band Feedback's team leader Foad Nasser Babu has been hospitalised after suffering a "massive heart attack" on Friday night.
Foad was taken to Dhaka's Universal Medical College Hospital around 11.30 pm after he complained of severe chest pain at his home in the capital and admitted to the Coronary Care Unit (CCU), according to music director Farid Ahmed.
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Although his primary condition was not satisfactory initially, Foad "is now stable and his condition improving", his band-mate Raihan Al Hasan said.
With Foad as the band leader, Feedback started its journey way back in 1976. The band celebrated its journey of four decades in 2019 by arranging a rendezvous concert at the International Convention City, Bashundhara (ICCB), in the captial.
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With Babu's guidance and creative brilliance, Feedback began hogging media limelight from its beginning only, with evergreen tracks like 'Ei Din Chirodin Robe', ‘Moushumi’, ‘Geetikobita 1 & 2’, ‘Chithi’, ‘Majhi’, ‘Telephone e Phishphish’, and perhaps its most significant song of all time ‘Melay Jaire’, which has gradually become the nation’s anthem for its biggest festivity Pahela Baishakh.
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Apart from his successful band career, Babu has also cemented his legacy as a prolific music composer, director, piano and bass player and a successful commercial jingle producer.
Bollywood actor Rahul Roy has been discharged from a private hospital in Mumbai, after being treated there for over 45 days following a brain stroke.
Rahul had to be airlifted to Mumbai after he suffered from aphasia -- a condition that robs a person of the ability to communicate -- post the brain stroke in November while shooting for his upcoming film in the hill town of Kargil in the Himalayan region of Kashmir.
The 52-year-old actor was discharged from Mumbai’s Wockhardt Hospital on Wednesday evening, a doctor said.
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“He is delighted to be back home. His physio and speech therapy will continue. It will take some time but he should be fine in 6-7 months," his brother-in-law Romeer Sen told the local media in Mumbai.
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Kashmir has been a flashpoint between India and Pakistan for over six decades. And in Kargil, India and Pakistan fought a major war in 1999, after Islamabad sent its Army to occupy military posts the Indian troops had vacated in the months of snow.
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However, the digital film, 'LAC - Live The Battle', which Rahul was shooting for in Kargil, is based on India-China skirmishes in the Galwan Valley. LAC or Line of Actual Control is a notional demarcation line separating Indian territory from Chinese's in the border dispute.
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“Kargil had extreme weather conditions and they had gone up to -12°C and -13°C, so it was just a matter of time when someone would have succumbed to the cold, and I think that’s exactly what happened with Rahul," the film’s producer Nivedita Basu then told the media.
Roy began his acting career with the 1990 blockbuster Aashiqui. He subsequently acted in many romantic hits like Sapne Sajan Ke, Junoon and Phir Teri Kahani Yaad Aayee. In 2006, he won the first season of the TV reality show Big Boss, based on Dutch Big Brother format.